International Paper (IP) completed the sale of its 50 per cent stake in Ilim SA, the holding company of the US-Russian joint venture (JV) Ilim, to its JV partners for $484m in cash.
The buyer is Ilim Global Timber Rus LLC, owned by Zakhar Smushkin and Boris Zingarevich, the founders of Ilim.
In addition, the company completed the sale of its outstanding shares in JSC Ilim Group to its JV partners for $24m in cash and disposed of other non-substantial residual interests in Ilim.
IP had been a strategic partner in the Ilim Group since 2007. Its total value was estimated at $1.3bn in early 2023, when the transaction was announced. The group includes the three pulp and paper mills in Koryazhma, Arkhangelsk regions, in Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk, Irkutsk region, among others.
